{"id":226877,"date":"2025-12-16T10:16:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=226877"},"modified":"2025-12-16T10:16:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:16:47","slug":"molokai-food-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/12\/16\/molokai-food-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Molokaʻi food security grows with ‘Seed to Harvest’ program"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"people<\/p>\n

A fruitful collaboration between the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>) and the County of Maui is empowering people on Molokaʻi<\/span> to grow their own food, lower grocery bills and build community resilience.<\/p>\n

The Seed to Harvest program, led by CTAHR<\/abbr>\u2019s team of extension agents on Molokaʻi<\/span>, finished its third cohort in December, with each group growing between 300 and 400 pounds of fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. Funded by a grant from the County of Maui\u2019s Department of Agriculture, the program addresses food inequity and the high cost of imported goods by teaching residents how to cultivate sustainable home gardens.<\/p>\n

\"people<\/p>\n

Extension agents Kyle Franks and Jennifer Hawkins designed Seed to Harvest with an emphasis on using on-island resources to reduce reliance on expensive imports. The program creates a complete cycle of education, teaching people the skills to propagate seeds, manage pests and harvest their crops.<\/p>\n

“There\u2019s been several generations not farming, not gardening, and so we wanted to help bring that back into the community,” said Franks. “The pandemic highlighted the level of food inequity across the island.”<\/p>\n

For Kanoelani Dudoit, a lifelong Molokaʻi<\/span> resident, the experience has been transformative. “It opened more avenues for each person to apply what they learned from the workshop right at home,” said Dudoit. She noted that the program helped her identify local stores, local prices, local items, allowing her family to “cut costs or reuse what we have here. That\u2019s a major benefit for our community.”<\/p>\n

Harvest to market<\/h2>\n

In early 2026, the team will launch Harvest to Market, a new program designed to teach home gardeners the business side of agriculture. The upcoming curriculum will cover marketing and branding, turning raw produce into jams, jellies, or freeze-dried goods that can be sold at farmer\u2019s markets, and following state rules for selling produce and processed foods.<\/p>\n

“Our growers are doing a great job, but now they have excess,” said Hawkins. “So the next step is helping them get their produce to market.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The program creates a complete cycle of education, teaching people the skills to propagate seeds, manage pests and harvest their crops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":226791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[222,212,265,951,9],"class_list":["post-226877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-agriculture","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-cooperative-extension-service","tag-food","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t